As the design of vehicles and automobiles has evolved over time, headlight designs have evolved as well. In particular, headlight designs have changed over time to improve the aerodynamic aspects of the front end of the vehicle. Modern headlights are often designed so that their lenses follow the contour of the vehicle to provide an aerodynamically efficient exterior surface. This has led to modular headlight designs requiring that the headlight adjustment mechanism to be located within the engine compartment of the vehicle so that headlight orientation and aim can be adjusted without removing any exterior trim pieces. Adjustment of aerodynamically designed headlights is more challenging than adjustment of traditionally designed headlights. However, adjustment of these headlights must still be performed in order to provide an optimal beam of light and to prevent the aiming of lights beams toward oncoming vehicles.
Automotive headlight assemblies typically comprise several basic parts: a support frame and one or more lamp assemblies, each comprising a reflector, a lens, a bulb or LED, and one or more adjusters. The support frame usually houses the reflectors and the bulbs on a pivotable mount to allow the aim of the light to be adjusted using the adjuster. The lens seals the front of the headlight assembly to protect it from the elements assailing the front end of the vehicle and provides an aerodynamic shape and attractive appearance. Traditionally, fixed and movable ball joints have engaged the headlamp reflector or lamp assembly. Actuating the moveable ball joint results in altering the angle of the lamp assembly by pivoting the reflector about the fixed ball joints. In certain variations, two movable ball joints are used to enable vertical and horizontal aiming of the headlamp. In some instances due to location constraints and restrictions on the access available behind the lamp, it would be desirable to adjust two moveable ball joints simultaneously or to otherwise have a single location where multiple adjustments can be implemented.
A wide variety of prior art adjuster devices are already known, including, among others, the devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,214,971, 5,707,133, 6,773,153 and 7,052,164 to Burton, the inventor of the present invention, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. In some instances, an aiming screw or gear screw replaces the moveable ball joint. With an aiming screw or gear screw assembly, the lamp assembly is mounted inside the housing on a gear screw assembly and is adjustable horizontally and/or vertically using adjusters that interface with the lamp assembly by moving the gear screw. An example of a gear screw assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,052,164. The adjusters disclosed in each of these prior art patents, however, must each be adjusted independently. For example, if a headlight assembly for a particular vehicle has two lamp assemblies, each headlight assembly may have two or more adjusters. Thus adjustment of the headlights of the vehicle thus requires positioning four separate adjuster assemblies.
There are several applications in which it would be desirable to have a headlamp adjuster apparatus that is capable of effectuating adjustment of multiple adjusters from a single location. For example, it would be desirable to provide a headlamp adjuster for use with aerodynamic headlight designs, in which the orientation and aim of the headlights is adjustable from inside the engine compartment. As another example, it would be desirable to provide a single headlamp adjuster for adjusting multiple lamp assemblies where the available space for adjusters is small. It would also be desirable to use ordinary tools to make any adjustments as well. FIGS. 1a-c illustrate three different examples of automobile headlights in which it would be useful to be able to position multiple adjusters from one location. FIG. 1a is an illustration of the headlight of a Honda NSX concept car having multiple lamp assemblies in a serial arrangement. FIG. 1b is an illustration of the headlight of a Ford Atlas concept car. FIG. 1c is an illustration of a headlight from a Cadillac Escalade.
It will be understood by those skilled in the art that one or more aspects of this invention can meet certain objectives, while one or more other aspects can lead to certain other objectives. Other objects, features, benefits and advantages of the present invention will be apparent in this summary and descriptions of the disclosed embodiment, and will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Such objects, features, benefits and advantages will be apparent from the above as taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures and all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom.